The present invention generally relates to printing. More specifically, the invention relates to systems and methods for printing information that is provided in a print-ready format.
Computer networking has done much to improve worker efficiency and productivity. From a hardware perspective, computer networking also can reduce costs. In particular, by networking a hardware resource, such as printing device, multiple workers can effectively share the hardware resource.
Computer networking can, however, present one or more drawbacks. Take, for instance, the scenario where a computer network is established to enable multiple workers to use a single printing device. Such a printing device could be located a relatively long distance from at least one of the workers. When one of these workers sends a print task to the printing device, such as by interfacing with a printer driver associated with their workstation, the worker typically walks from their workstation to the printing device in order to retrieve the requested documents. If the worker only requested one copy of the document to be printed and, then, upon reaching the printing device realized that multiple copies actually were required, the worker typically must return to the workstation to request printing of additional copies. More specifically, the worker would interface with the printer driver once again to request the additional copies and then return to the printing device to retrieve the copies. Clearly, the aforementioned process for printing and then retrieving the additional copies can be somewhat time-consuming, particularly when the distance between the printing device and the workstation is long.
Based on the foregoing, it should be appreciated that there is a need for improved systems and methods that address these and/or other shortcomings of the prior art.
The present invention relates to systems and methods for printing information that is provided in a print-ready format. In this regard, an embodiment of one such method includes: storing information corresponding to a print task in memory in a print-ready format, the information in the print-ready format being configured for use by a printing device such that the information can be printed by the printing device without being processed by a driver of the printing device; and enabling a selected portion of the print task to be printed without printing a non-selected portion of the print task.
An embodiment of a print system of the invention includes a job retention system. The job retention system is configured to receive an input corresponding to a selected portion of a print task and retrieve information corresponding to the selected portion of the print task. Preferably, the information is in a print-ready format that is configured for use by a printing device. So configured, the information can be retrieved from memory and printed by the printing device without being processed by a driver of the printing device. Additionally, the job retention system is configured to enable the selected portion of the print task to be printed without printing a non-selected portion of the print task.